


Game Over.

by han_rawr



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Apocalypse, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-07
Updated: 2014-04-07
Packaged: 2018-01-18 12:40:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1428910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/han_rawr/pseuds/han_rawr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the apocalypse, and Scout's small group is about to recruit two new members.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Game Over.

“Girls, haul arse!”  
I scramble from our hiding place – a crumbling wall – and make a mad dash across a landscape that is no longer familiar to me. Vehicles have been burnt to cinders, the shells of family cars a sickening sight. But I don’t dwell on it, or the foul language that’s being thrown around. My mum would be disgusted, but her repulsion for vile words doesn’t really matter now because she’s lost to me. 

Glass crunches beneath the fast pace of my trainers as I travel on a zig-zag path between an ancient, 4 month old, traffic pile up. At times I have to mount the bonnets, a safer route than straying into shadowy gaps. You don’t want to be caught alone.

I hitch the straps of my rucksack higher on my shoulders before climbing over a fallen street lamp. The gun slung across the front of my body clatters against obstacles I try and overcome. It’s heavy work with a vital pack, but I wouldn’t dare leave it, the possessions inside are precious to me; small remnants of my family.  
It’s as I look up from my raised position that I spot a woman making headway towards Benny. She doesn’t look particularly friendly, not with the club she’s sporting.

“Benny!”

Qai aids in taking the woman out, knocking her legs out from under her. Her skull almost bounces off the concrete and I find myself quickening my path towards them.

“You alright?” I breathe.

“Yeah, fine.”

Benny’s puffing out a relieved sigh and I’m more comfortable now that we’ve regrouped. My interest strays towards the female sprawled out across the hard ground. She can’t be more than 25 years old, auburn hair and a nasty gash across her right shoulder. I’m pretty sure she was part of the previous group that tried to ransack the van. We’d stayed hidden, watching as opponents engaged in combat over the transportation prize. And now it’s our turn.

“Qai.”

“I’m on it.”

Qai stalks the silver van like prey, an animalistic figure, hungry for mobility rather than a good meal. We need to get out of here. She’s the youngest of us three, 16 years old and our little technical expert. Benny and I had found her hidden in a boat hull in the harbour. She was soaked through, shivering from her escape into the water. We didn’t press her with questions as to why she was on her own, it was pretty obvious that others she was previously with just couldn’t run as fast. 

“The doors are locked.”

Benny juts a pointed elbow through the driver’s door window. Her expression is one of “your welcome”, when she turns to Qai. She’s quick, reaching through and unlocking the door from the inside.

“Hurry,” I encourage.

Benny and I stand guard around the vehicle as small fingers get to work on fiddly wires and numerous attempts to start the ignition. I impatiently stand over her. There’s no point in my offering assistance because my knowledge only just about reaches to wiring a plug.

“Back off!” Benny shouts.

My stomach drops as I translate the warning. I jog to the back of our claimed van to find her confronting two males. My hand touches the small of her back just to let her know I’m here. She’s not alone. 

“It’s ours, go find your own,” I spout. 

The tall one eyes the weapon I clutch tightly and I pray he doesn’t somehow figure out that it’s not loaded, it hasn’t been for weeks, but it’s one of the only deterrents we possess for protecting our small group. I can’t determine their weapon status as it’s difficult to identify just what exactly is strapped around skinny waists and slung over shoulders. 

“Take us. We can help.”

His voice is scratchy, probably from exhaustion and lack of drinking water. They’re part of a team, the shorter one watching the surrounding area as we converse with the other. It’s always sensible to have a look out. 

“How?”

Unless he has some sort of miracle potion secreted in that mass of curly hair to magic this all away, it’s unlikely two extra mouths to feed will be of any use.

“We can protect you.”

I scoff at his ignorance. 

“We don’t need protecting.”

It’s true, Qai and I had fended off three adult males whilst Benny collected supplies on a nightly raid. We’d sustained hindering injuries but I wasn’t going to tell him that.  
And judging by cut on his forehead, it appears we aren’t the only ones that aren’t shy of getting stuck in. If my mother was here, she’d have him laid down and doted upon him whilst she attended to the minor wound. But I’m not my mother; right now this distraction is costing us time and I’m losing interest.

“Zayn can hunt,” he blurts out.

Green eyes gesture to the boy continuing to scan the area. He’s the sort of boy who’d have girls fawning over him at school, pretty face, long lashes, hard jaw. But these attributes have no worth now, other than being a nice final view before getting eaten alive.

“Animals?”

“Yeah,” he shortly replies. 

“How big?”

“I’ve seen him take down a forest cat,” the first lad interjects. 

I turn my focus to him, full pink lips being gnawed between his teeth. The anxiousness is leaking from him. He’s sort of gawky with the length of his arms and legs, eyes a little bit too far apart, wide set nose and a very pretty mouth I seem to overlook on first glance. 

“And what can you do?” I ask. 

“Fight.”

“We can all fight, that’s nothing special,” I shake my head dismissively. 

He’s panicking now, especially as I know he’s spotted the movement just to his right. I can’t be sure if it’s male or female as the guttural groaning could be associated with either.

“Shit,” he breaths. “Look, there’s only three of you, that van can easily take five.”

His observation of our group number makes me feel uneasy, because I have a gun with no ammunition and Benny’s knee has been playing up since we jumped the fence last night. They could take us out and Qai wouldn’t stand a chance on her own. The screaming commences almost on cue. 

“Scout!”

I abandon the situation and leg it to where Qai is being dragged from the driver’s foot well by a man with tattoos. She looks utterly terrified, and she has every right to be. The man’s eyes are beginning to cloud over and that’s never a good thing. 

I jam the butt of the gun into his side, bruising him and knocking his heavy weight off balance. My statue isn’t really any competition against his. I pray that the boys aren’t taking advantage of the circumstance and shoving Benny aside for a chance at our vehicle. 

Qai is literally kicked aside, a solid boot to her middle in which she cries in pain. I try to get her up, but my path is blocked by the man eclipsing the sun like a skyscraper. We scramble for the wooden bat Qai had left just outside the driver’s door and I’m fruitless in my efforts.

Knocked to the floor I can still hear Qai crying. My pack is squashed underneath me with the corners of objects jutting uncomfortably into my back. I’ve lost the time I had to roll away by furiously searching for Benny. A foot presses down on my chest, compressing my upper body and torturously squeezing the last of the oxygen from my lungs. I claw at the man’s leg and watch through watery eyes as Qai is shoved away again. 

He raises the bat and all I can see is the warmth of sun behind his shoulders. My legs are no longer kicking, my fingers weakening around his calf. The shouting around me is a little fuzzy now, but I can hear Benny screaming my name. 

An object hurtles across the blue sky above my head and the pressure from the man’s boot is gone. I gulp air like it’s water.

“Come on!”

I’m roughly heaved up from the floor and it’s the bandana boy whose hand is clamped around my arm. I turn away from his wide eyes to watch blood pool from around the infected man’s head. An arrow is gruesomely embedded in his eye socket, the sight making me want to double over and vomit. 

“Take me because I’m a good shot.”

That’s putting it mildly. 

“Fine.”

It’s just one word, but apparently it’s good enough for him because he drops my arm instantly and shouts over to his friend.

“Zayn.”

“Got it.”

Zayn helps Benny get a limping Qai into the back, slamming the doors behind them. The engine to the van is already running so at some point Qai must have been successful in the fiddly wires. 

“I’m Harry, by the way.”

“Scout,” I rush the introduction. “You can ride shotgun.”

My hand claps him none to gently on the back before I sweep the window glass off the driver’s seat. He’s grumbling as he situates himself to my left in the passenger side and I shove my rucksack at him. I jam the gear stick into first, knocking idle rubbish bins and other debris out of the van’s path as we begin to roll away. I mount the path because the road is blocked. It’s only a short while before Harry unfortunately speaks up. 

“Your gear changes are shit.”

I roll my eyes. It’s hardly the time or the place. We just need to get out of here, who cares if it’s not the smoothest of rides?

“My apologies, I wasn’t aware I was riding with Jenson Button,” I bite back sarcastically, clenching my hands tighter around the wheel. 

“Swap.”

“No,” I protest in disbelief. 

“Swap or we’ll all end up being car sick.”

I quickly glance at him, checking to see if he’s actually being serious. His raised eyebrows and pointed stare are confirmation. 

“Fuck off.”

Grabby hands tug at my arm and I can’t quite believe how forward he is. My surprise is evident as the vehicle clips the side of a partially erected wall and I slam my foot on the brakes. We jolt forward and there’s a bump against the partition behind us. 

“Girls, you alright?” I worriedly enquire. 

“Yeah,” they reply in unison.

I sigh out the breath I’d been holding.

“I’m fine too,” Zayn makes known his presence. 

Harry puts the handbrake on and I want to punch him in the face.

“We’re swapping whether you like it or not.”

“No, sit there and shut up.”

“How many times did you take your driving test?”

The question floors me for a second because it’s so ordinary. It’s a glimpse back into what it was like before, before all of the horrendous experiences that have left my nights riddled with nightmares. 

“I passed on the fourth time,” I unwillingly admit.

“I passed first time, we’re swapping.”

He stares at me for two short seconds before bustling forward to apparently remove me from my seat. I elbow him in the right of his chest.

“Don’t touch me. Go around.”

Harry curses under his breath before turning to vacate the vehicle. I take his momentary blindness to me to flick him the V. My body awkwardly negotiates wriggling to the passenger seat as he jogs around the front of the van to the driver’s side. 

“What’s going on?” Benny shouts.

“Nothing,” I quickly reply before Harry has a chance to. 

The door is slammed and he smirks as his belt is clipped and I do the same. 

“We’re just getting to know each other, aren’t we, Scout?”

I scowl at him, but the gesture only widens his smile. Arsehole. We progress into an annoyingly pleasant drive, his hands and feet working perfectly to coordinate our escape. He’s looking pretty smug about it. 

“You can shove your smooth gear changes up your arse.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you or reading, would love to know what you think! This is fic is probably going to have multiple parts.


End file.
